[August 29, 2015] Anti-establishment leadership! U.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is an Independent running for the Democratic Party nomination. By his own claim, he is a “socialist democrat” who is working to unite people for a better world and opposes political cronyism in Washington, D.C. His popularity expanded quickly as he regularly draws large crowds to his speaking… Read More »
[August 28, 2015] An incident occurred during a military training exercise early in my career that taught me an important lesson – small things matter. After relocating my platoon to a new defensive position I set our machinegun foxhole in what I thought was an okay spot. My commander ordered me to change it and later during a… Read More »
[August 27, 2015] Texas A&M University is the first academic organization I’ve featured here under core values. The reason has everything to do with the fact that college-level organizations rarely have their core values advertised, if they have them at all. None that I attended had core values at the time and no one I know could recall… Read More »
[August 26, 2015] Game 7 of the Baseball World Series was the first ball game I ever watched on television. My family did not own a television set at the time so I watched the October 1962 game from the home of a good friend. It was something new for me but what I remember most about the… Read More »
[August 25, 2015] An old custom in the U.S. military is for newly commissioned Second Lieutenants to receive their first salute by a person of their choice. The new officer gives a U.S. silver dollar as a token of appreciation and in my case I received a salute from Sergeant First Class J. Benjamin Sessions … a great… Read More »
[August 22, 2015] The sad fact is that many senior leaders do, in fact, promote divisiveness by their choice of words and inaction to promote basic standards of good behavior. Whether purposefully or by accident, some national leaders also encourage divisiveness and they are not good leaders in the sense that they portray the requisite traits of excellence. … Read More »
[August 20, 2015] Who makes worst soldiers in the U.S. Army is rarely discussed outside the confines of senior leader gatherings. There has been a politically correct attitude about this issue that unfortunately protects us from that analyst. Anyone who undertakes the task to identify trends will have accusations of bias and prejudice leveled against them. In an… Read More »
[August 19, 2015] U.S. Army senior leadership has always been hesitant to say who among the general population makes the best soldiers. While such a politically correct stance is not unexpected, there are many who have served and studied patterns that help us predict who will be the best soldiers. Although these attributes and experiences of those in… Read More »
[August 18, 2015] Many boys from my generation grew up building model airplanes; one of the most popular being the P-40E Curtiss Warhawk painted in a green and tan camouflage pattern with the famous “shark mouth” nose art and Chinese Air Force insignia on its wings. David Lee “Tex” Hill, flew one of these P-40Es and was one… Read More »
[August 17, 2015] One of the most difficult character traits of senior leaders to obtain, and to develop in all leaders for that matter, is the ability to judge character in others. Leaders are looking for specific traits in others that predict successful mission completion or are obstacles to teamwork. Sadly, we often see inexperienced leaders who misjudge… Read More »